Fifteen years ago, the European Union made a decision that quietly changed what goes into some of the most recognizable snack foods on the planet. Starting in 2010, any food sold in Europe containing certain synthetic dyes had to carry a warning label stating it “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” Manufacturers changed up their products rather than put those words on a package aimed at kids, or more properly, their moms. But Americans never got that label, and those dyes stayed in their snacks.

The dyes in question are petroleum-derived colorings that have been in the food supply for decades. The original safety testing that led to their approval - mostly studies done in the 1950s and 60s — looked at whether they caused organ damage or cancer in animals. Nobody asked whether they might affect how children think, focus, or behave, and when people finally did look into the results were striking.

The answer came from a pair of British studies published in........

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